South African FA to investigate officials over pre-World Cup match-fixing

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By Ian Hudson

The country's governing body will investigate referees after a report claimed officials were bribed in order to fix certain non-competitive matches

The South African Football Association is set to investigate officials after a Fifa report found "compelling evidence" of match-fixing during the country's 2010 World Cup warm-up matches.

The report states it is likely that referees were bribed by Singaporean Wilson Perumal, whose fake organisation - Football4U - was used to act as a front for betting syndicates, but the specific games that were allegedly fixed have not been announced.

"The Fifa report addresses the question as to whether one or more of the pre-World Cup friendly matches was fixed and finds compelling evidence that this was indeed the case," the statement from the SAFA read.

"The report identifies various SAFA officials who interacted with Football4U, and recommends that further examination of these officials should take place."

Perumal is currently under house arrest in Hungary after being handed a two-year jail term for fixing matches in Finland in July 2011.

The SAFA are still looking to question referee Ibrahim Chaibou regarding his possible involvement in the allegations.

The Zimbabwe FA has also recently banned players and coaches for their involvement with Perumal over the past three years.